Anna Tivel (from the album Living Thing

Anna Tivel (from the album Living Thing

Anna Tivel (from the album Living Thing available on Fluff & Gravy Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)

Living Things, Anna Tivel’s sixth studio overall, is an existential effort that attempts to define the various aspects of emotion and understanding as borne from everyday experience. In so doing, Tivel attempts to share life lessons that find their way into the human psyche while entangled with inexplicable emotions. ‘Before you come into the world, you should know, there are things that will hurt and things that won’t’ she suggests on the jubilant track titled “Disposable Camera”. ‘But you learn how to breath just by doing it, how to dream until you believe yourself’.

Indeed, Anna Tivel takes a philosophical stance throughout, and while songs such as “Silver Flame”, “Real Things”, and “Bluebird” in particular, capture those sentiments within a shimmering and seductive sensibility, her craft and communication clearly come through in a most evocative way. The music is mesmerizing in and of itself, whether it is found in the giddy groove of “Desperation”, the sensual suggestion of “Two Truths”, or the reassuring refrain given “Altogether Alone”. As a result, the care Tivel invests is immediately evident with each entry, and while these songs are clearly meant to convey a certain philosophical stance (‘nobody tells it like it is… they were wrong and the wind is a living thing’), the music is both tender and touching simply on the strength of sheer execution. The sounds of a storm and nature unfurled, as they billow through “Gold Web”, seem to sum up the metaphysical muse Tivel has tapped into here. It’s a sound that’s both beautiful and beguiling, a series of meditative moments that make the album engaging and engrossing.

Given the fact that Living Things was written and recorded during the throes of the pandemic, it’s all the more emphatic in terms of the sentiment and suggestion Anna Tivel invested within. It’s not only an exception album, but a musical mantra that not only gives reason to accept, but to fully appreciate as well. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
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